Author: Lisa Andrews
The Occidental quad became a stage for traditional Mexican music Wednesday, March 28 when the Mariachi Divas struck up their instruments in a special lunchtime performance. The well-known Los Angeles based group made their way to Oxy for Semana de la Raza events, sponsored in a joint effort by Gender Equity Club, Project SAFE, MEChA/ALAS and OSL. The Mariachi Divas’ visit was also part of Women’s Herstory Month programming.
Gender Equity President Daisy Larios (senior) said she was inspired to bring the Mariachi Divas to Occidental because as an all-female group playing traditionally male-dominated music, they connected gender issues with diversity issues. “I like to see a mixture of more light-hearted and educational events,” Larios said.
The week’s events were capped off with a car show in the quad, featuring vintage autos central to the Chicano experience in Los Angeles. The car show was co-sponsored by Power 105.9 F.M.
Renowned queer Chicana author, poet and playwright CherrÃe Moraga also visited campus as part of Semana de la Raza, addressing a small group of students and faculty in Lower Herrick Chapel, Thursday, March 29.
Moraga spoke extensively on the tribal identities foundational to the Chicano experience that she has included in her numerous award winning plays.
“We remember more than we think we do,” Moraga said, encouraging students to explore their own ancestries. “I write to remember, the right to remember our villages returned.
Moraga is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Theatre Playwrights’ Fellowship and is the Artist-in-Residence in the Departments of Drama and Spanish & Portuguese at Stanford University.
“No longer can the colonizer, or the colonized tell us that we can’t,” she said.
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